The Master Tactician
by slowback
Summary: The story of Fire Emblem(7) through the tactician's point of view, will include original side stories and battles not in the actual game.
1. Prologue - The Lonely Girl in the Plains

Author's note: I do not own the Fire Emblem franchise, nor any of its characters.

* * *

Prologue - The Lonely Girl in the Plains

The tavern was lively. I counted at least three dozen patrons, including the bartender and wait staff. A man announced the entertainment for tonight: a boy and a girl, both with pale blue hair, and eerily pale skin, as if neither had seen daylight in their lives. The boy was ten at the oldest, while the girl was in her teens. The boy, holding a flute to his mouth, started playing, the girl followed with a complicated dance that I doubted I would ever understand. Strangely, watching the children's performance created a sensation of rejuvenation within me, and, glancing around to see the reactions of the other patrons, I noticed it was having a similar effect to them. Whatever these children's spell was, I decided it was nothing that I learned in my studies in the Academy in Lycia. I turned my back to find my drink on the counter behind me, took a sip, and put it back, pondering the origin of the entertainers, deciding that I had to interview those two after their performance was over.

I was still waiting for the Saecean mercenaries (outcasts of some tribe or the other, from what I heard) to join me in my first expedition as a military force's sole tactician. From what I was told, I was expected to spend about a day here before moving on with the mercenaries to deal with some local bandits that killed almost an entire tribe a few fortnights ago.

While I was lost in thought, I didn't realize the two children had finished playing and had already exited the tavern. I swore, took another gulp of my drink, and exited as well, hoping to find the children. I started feeling groggy, weird as that was, I had only had half a pint, and surely I could hold more alcohol than that. I felt someone grab a hold of me, but at that time, I had almost lost all motor function. I felt myself being lifted up onto something that felt like a saddle, and I felt my arms being tied as I lost consciousness.

"Are you awake?" A voice, clearly a woman's, asked.

I groaned, it felt as if thousands of needles were stabbing my head. "What came over me?" I muttered, apparently just loud enough for the woman to hear. I opened my eyes to reveal a surprisingly young (and beautiful, I added to myself) girl to be living in apparent solitude.

"I found you unconscious on the plains," she said, in a tone that I knew meant I was under no harm from her.

"The plains? How far away are we from Bulgar? For that is where I was last time I was conscious." I replied, the memories of the night before were coming back to me slowly. The strange children at the tavern escaped before I could question them, and I was supposed to meet the mercenaries near that very tavern this morning.

"A few days on foot, you were heavily bruised when I found you, are you sure you're well enough to travel?" As she said that, I felt the pain all over my body, I must have been strapped on to a horse and driven off into the plains, but why? I went through all of the reasons why someone would want to kill me in an inconspicuous manner, but that produced little results. I was near Bern, so maybe one of their agents mistaken me for their real target, I was, after all, a relative of Roland, through his blood does not flow in me.

"I guess you're right, who are you? Do you live here?" I asked, I could pretty easily guess the answer to the latter, but I was hoping to know more of why she was alone.

"I am Lyn, of the Lorca tribe." I winced; I assume she noticed, because she frowned a little. This was the tribe that the bandits I was sent to kill attacked. I heard there were survivors, but I never thought I would meet any of them.

"Pleased to meet you Lyn, I am Lukas." I said, getting out of the makeshift bed that Lyn had made for me.

"Lukas, that is an odd name, where are you from Lukas?" My stomach audibly growled, "Oh, you must be hungry, here, I have some leftover meat." She grabbed a fairly sizable amount of cooked of, from what I could tell, pork.

"Thank you, Lyn of the Lorca, Sacean hospitality is indeed not just a rumor." I heard of the hospitality of course, knowing better than many of the ignorant people who believed rumors that the people of Saece did nothing but dance around fires, eat people, and talk to horses.

She gave a brief smile, and remarked that she will look outside for the weather. After a few moments, she ran back in, "Bandits! You can stay here, I can take care of them!" She said, taking a sword that was standing near the door.

"No, I will go with you, Lyn." I quickly replied.

"You can handle weapons?" She asked, with a genuine look of surprise.

"Not skillfully, I am a tactician however, I can guide your actions if you want."

"Ah, I see… So you're a strategist by trade? An odd profession…" We headed out of the ger, which is what the nomads of Saece call their huts.

I saw only two bandits, though neither were aware of our presence. I guided Lyn to duck under a nearby boulder as I threw a pebble at the closer of the two bandits. The pebble did its job sufficiently and the man raised his axe and charged at me. I ducked behind Lyn, and whispered "on 3…1,2,3, attack!"

She sprang out and cut a diagonal line from the bandit's left pelvis to right shoulder. Blood spurted out from the wound as the bandit fell over. He would be dead within a few minutes. The other bandit was almost to the duo, so I knew there would be no element of surprise this time. I knew the advantage Lyn had as a sword wielder to the axe wielder, she also had the advantage of agility. The way he ran allowed me to infer that he was clumsy at best, and Lyn should be agile enough to dodge any swing from the axeman. "Just meet his charge, avoid his attacks as your first priority," I instructed.

Lyn merely nodded, and went to face the bandit. "I am Batta the Beast! No one bests me!" yelled the bandit, and took a large, clumsy swing as he almost tripped. Of course, Lyn had easily dodged the swing and, seeing the opening Batta had left open, swung down on the back of his neck, breaking it, but not quite severing the head. From his studies of the human body, he knew the bandit was already dead.

The two bandits dead, Lyn exclaimed, "We did it! Thanks Lukas for your help!"

I was a little surprised at the girl's reflexes, though her swordplay was rough, it was perfect for dealing with simple bandits. "Good job with those bandits Lyn, I have to say I'm impressed by your swordplay at your age, did your parents teach you?" I realized my mistake immediately as her head turned downward and she looked like she was about to cry.

"My parents…they were taken from me two months ago by bandits…" Tears were almost welling up in her eyes.

"…I'm sorry, Lyn. I didn't know…" I lied, hoping she didn't read my reaction when I first heard which tribe she was from.

"It's okay, Lukas," she quickly tried to change the subject, "didn't you mention Bulgar earlier?"

"I did, I was supposed to meet a mercenary company there this morning," I replied, I wonder what kind of fate had me drugged and dragged to the middle of the Saece plains only to be rescued by this girl. Whatever fate it was, my gut feeling was telling me that this was to set off a chain of events, however odd this might be.

"Well, you are already late, but I can travel with you to there if you want, I need to resupply myself anyways," Lyn had pretty clearly put the memory of her parents behind her already, such strong will.

"Thank you, I believe I'll have to take you up on that offer, considering I have no idea where to go!" I laughed, it was after all, this was my first time in Saece.

"Well, we should get going!" She was pretty enthusiastic about a simple trip to a town, though I guess most nomads don't spend much time in the urban areas of Elibe.

I've never seen greener plains, the only blemish on the landscape the occasional boulder, likely rolled down from the neighboring Bernese mountains. Though I suppose I don't need to be gawking at the scenery, I need to reacquaint myself with my training. I've never been trained to have just one soldier under my command, but I suppose Lyn was one the optimal specimens in this situation. While she didn't have much strength, she does have great agility to make up for her armor, making her an ideal one woman army. Her main weakness, of course, was numbers: I doubt we would be able to fend off any more than two hostiles.

"You've been silent," noted Lyn.

"I've been thinking about tactics, I have never been trained on commanding just one soldier…" In reality, I've never been trained in any tactics with groups under the size of thirty.

"You did fine back there against those bandits."

"That was against two, a number I'm sure we won't be lucky to face again…" I started, "but against, say, ten well-trained soldiers, we are dead."

"Nonsense! Just treat the ten soldiers as five groups of two." To her credit, the basis of her argument – divide and conquer – is highly effective in any size of force, though I still doubted I could succeed against the likes of trained soldiers with just Lyn.

"I think our best hope is to simply avoid conflict at all. At least, I could pray for such. Say, I've been meaning to ask you, why did you choose to help me?"

"I could never leave a stranded man out in the plains like that! But for helping you get to Bulgar, I needed supplies and something to do, or a tribe to join…"

"I can easily imagine why you want, or daresay, need to join a tribe, but I have to thank you. You saved my life, peerless warrior."

"You're welcome, master tactician!" We both chuckled, and noted the setting sun. "I guess we should set up camp here."

I nodded, and my thoughts drifted back to the past two day's events.

* * *

Author's Note:

This is my first work, so any kind of criticism would be nice (if this is all total garbage, please, don't refrain from telling me so). The entire story will be from Lukas' point of view in the first person, and will take place through all of FE7's storyline, while also adding some side stories/battles that are not present in the game. I have pipe dreams of extending this into a trilogy if I decide I can write well enough. And finally, thanks for reading this little prologue.

-S


	2. Chapter 1 - Bulgar

The eastward journey to Bulgar was fairly uneventful, I'm surprised at the vast distances between human settlements in the plains. Outside of the two bandits from where Lyn rescued me, I had yet to see any other settlements. How strange, it would need a miracle to stay alive if one were stranded out here...a miracle that happened to me.

Lyn was relatively silent during the journey, I feared that my mistake from yesterday may have triggered the memories of her parents to flood back in. Of course, I liked silence, but that was for me to debate tactics amongst myself. Back at the Academy, I used to get in arguments with Master Owen over the importance of sacrifices in combat with fewer than a dozen men against a larger force. He always believed that a small force such as that must have at least one suicidal soldier. Always called the hypothetical soldier a lamb, he did, arguing that sacrificing the lamb leads to a greater chance of success for the rest of the force. But I believe that a mixture of advantages in equipment, experience, discipline, morale, tactics, and, most importantly, interconnectedness, can lead to an even higher chance of winning than Master Owen's "sacrificial lamb." A dozen men who have known each other all of their lives can take a force of well over fifty men who met each other the day before the hypothetical battle without any casualties. But Owen was always stubborn, in the final days before my departure Owen listed the 15 mercenaries to be under my command, commenting on their weapons skills, as well as ending each description with something he called "lambitude," or their viability of being a "sacrificial lamb." I suppose I was the lamb, seeing as how they've likely dispersed by now. I was still going to check once I investigated my...stranding.

I started to see walls in the distance, this was Bulgar. If I remembered correctly, the merchant district where that inn (The Scrawny Dragon? Really?) was near the main gates.

"Almost there, Lukas!" I must have jumped, because Lyn was laughing at me. I had completely forgotten that I had a companion with me during my inner rambling!

"I'm getting too old for this..." I sighed, mimicking Owen the countless times he used this complaint on me. Not that I was actually old. Old compared to a child, maybe, but then again, I was a child compared to Owen. I looked over at Lyn, her face contorted in the same way a child would the first time they saw a real magic trick from one of the Etrurian mages. We were already at the gates. "I suppose thanks are in order, Lyn." I said, holding small pouch of coins toward her.

"You don't need to pay me anything! Money means little to me, and you need a way back to your home!" She looked like she was going to go on, but then, something came over her, "Ah, actually, thank you, Lukas, may Mother Earth protect you." She quickly grabbed the coins and gave a little bow.

"Goodbye, Lyn." She smiled and walked into the city.

Alone again it seems. I checked my belongings, noting that whoever wanted me dead or otherwise was not a thief. I still had all the money, outside of what I had just given Lyn, that I had from a few nights before.

I looked over at the central square of the marketplace. It was definitely a different sight during the daytime. There were countless stalls littered throughout the square, it appeared the owner of the land (the leader of some tribe or the other that lived here) rented spaces for merchants to set up stalls for the day. The goods sold by these merchants varied wildly. One merchant was selling Pegasus feathers, claiming they bode good luck to those travelling northward, another was selling a strange object, which, after I inquired, learned is a cooking utensil called a "strainer," though I did not see the use in it. It looked like a bowl dotted with holes. I finally saw a stall with something I needed. Daggers, often looked upon as the tools of thieves and spies, had always been my weapon of choice, considering my lack strength to hold any other weapon. Slightly poorer but now technically armed, I walked away, and found the other things I decided were necessary: a book full of blank pages, ink, a few quills, a cloak, and a small pack. After my small shopping spree, I headed out of the main square to one of the edges, for I could not see over the stalls to start my search for The Scrawny Dragon.

Once outside of the cluster of stalls, I found that I had no idea where I was, or even the general direction to that inn. I figured wandering around the perimeter of the square would eventually lead me to the inn, remembering that the entrance to the inn was near one of the corners of the square.

"Sir?" I heard someone speak. I kept walking, assuming this person meant someone else. "Sir?" The voice was closer. I turned around, and saw a man, fully armoured. His hair and armor was the same bright red, but he looked familiar, I think from one of the introductory classes on tactics. "I'm sorry," he started, "I seem to have lost my companion, green armor, brown hair, loves to fraternize women." That sounded familiar as well.

"No, I have not, I am heading towards The Scrawny Dragon if you wish to accompany me and search for him there." I replied.

"I have no other leads, I suppose it will do." I nodded and my new companion and I started walking towards what I guessed was the general direction of the inn. After some time, I finally found the sign of a crudely drawn dragon with much smaller features than one would imagine. The sign read "The Scrawny Dragon" and I knew that I found the place. I waved the armored man in, and I entered. The main room was a lot emptier than that night, only a handful patrons and that same bartender from my stay.

I walked toward the bartender. "'idn't you stay 'ere a few nights ago?" Asked he.

"Yes, and I want to ask some questions."

He looked over at the red armored man, who was in turn peeking into each room. "Yes? What'd you 'ant?"

"The last night that I stayed, the night the strange-looking bard and dancer were the entertainment, did you notice anything strange after those two left?"

"'ell, now that'd I think 'bout it, those two 'eft, 'en you 'eft, 'en that guy 'hoo nev'r spoke a word 'eft."

I pondered the information for a moment, "this person who left after me, what did he look like?"

"'e covered mos' of his'elf, hair 'as red if I 'member. def'nly smaller 'an that'n o'er there." He pointed at the red armored man.

"I see, thank you, kind sir." I nodded, and handed him a pouch of coins. He almost looked giddy, but with no real leads, as I knew no one of the vague description the bartender gave, I figured I could help this man find his companion while I try to find any other leads. I walked towards him, "any leads, sir?"

"No, sir. I will search elsewhere else. Say, I have yet to hear a name from you." He replied.

"Lukas of Ostia, obliged," I gave a small bow.

"Kent, Knight of Caelin," and he returned with a bow of his own, "did you find what you were looking for, sir Lukas of Ostia?"

"No, sir Kent of Caelin and I have no leads, so I suppose I will aid you in your troubles until I can find a lead for mine."

"I suggest we go towards the main gate, it is a good of a place to search as any." I nodded, he had no real leads either, it seemed, but at least he knew his companion was likely within the city.

* * *

We walked among the stalls again, I noted the merchant with the strange culinary appliances again, Kent whispered that the "strainer" he was trying to sell me earlier was a useless instrument for cooking. I noted from the sun that it was midday, had so little time passed since my entering of this city? "So, how does a knight of Caelin find himself in Bulgar?" I asked, attempting to break Kent's silence.

"A mission of importance to my marquess," he dully replied. I am unsure if his lack of words is for him being shy or of his mission.

We were exiting the mass of stalls when I saw green. Bright, shining green. "Oh, my heart! What a dazzling vision of loveliness!" My eyes finally adjusted, the green was coming from armor. Green armor, and wait! Is that...it is! Of all the people, that was Lyn, my saviour! She gave a confused hum, but the (I assumed) knight continued, "Wait, O beauteous one! Would you not favor me with your name? Or better yet, your company?"

Lyn finally spoke, "Where are you from, sir knight, that you speak so freely to a stranger?" I started to creep closer to the two, but neither noticed my presence.

"Ha, I thought you'd never ask! I am from Lycia," he was trying to give off his best showing of confidence, some would say bordering on bravado, "I hail from the Caelin canton, home to men of passion and fire!"

Lyn rolled her eyes, "Shouldn't that be 'home to callow oafs with loose tounges'?"

The knight grinned, "ooh... You're even lovely when you're cruel."

"I'm leaving now, if you won't mind," and Lyn stormed off towards the gates.

Kent gave a long sigh, I think his companion knight had put himself in this situation all too many times. "Sain! Hold your tongue!" He was near his companion knight, named Sain apparently. Definitely a scolding these two have been through dozens, if not hundreds of times.

"Ah, Kent! My boon companion! Why so severe an expression!" Sain playfully replied; I wonder if these two have a script that they follow.

"If your manner were more serious, I wouldn't have to be so severe! We still have a mission to complete, Sain!"

"I know that. But how could I remain silent in the presence of such beauty? It would have been discourteous!"

Knowing full well they might go on for hours, I interrupted, "Sir Knight, Sain, was it?" he nodded, "that woman you were awestruck in, she saved me from certain death not three days ago, she is one of the sword, so I would pursue with caution!" I added the last phrase a bit of malice.

Kent had a far more visible reaction than Sain, and he started first, "I suspect she may be-"

Sain interrupted, "our mission?"

Kent continued, "Yes, Sain, and you, sir Lukas of Ostia, did she give you her name?"

I felt like I was being interrogated. Kent seemed honorable enough, but Sain appeared to lack manners, very unusual for a knight. I decided that Kent, at least, is of the honorable type, "Lyn, of the Lorca tribe."

Kent's eyes widened a little, "Sain, to her at once! She is beyond doubt our mission! Lukas, do you care to join us?"

"I suppose I should come to see this to a close, do you two have horses?"

Kent nodded, "we also have a spare along with our horses at the stables just outside the gate."

"Then let us proceed!"

We ran towards the stables just outside the city, retrieved their horses, and rode away from Bulgar.

* * *

I spotted Lyn running away from a group of men, running towards us. We arrived near her, noticing the knights first, "You! you're from-"

"No time, milady! Let us deal with these cowardly men!" Kent shouted. Lyn, milady? she's a plainswoman!

I noticed that the men were axemen, I counted half a dozen. "Sir Kent!" I shouted, "I can assist as a tactician, if you would allow me to command you," though, I doubted they seriously needed tactics for this rabble. They were throughly disorganized and divided by a creek.

"You may guide Sain's and mine swords, sir," Kent looked over at Sain, "Sain, where is your sword?"

"I er, didn't have time to buy one?" Even he did not have a valid excuse, a knight without a sword is like an author without ink, at least that is what I was always told.

"Fool! if you weren't spending so much time wooing the women, you would be prepared."

"I'm...sorry?"

"Just take my spare and fight before you kill us all," I kind of felt sorry for Kent.

"Lukas!" I heard Lyn yell, "I am to be your own peerless warrior for this, I will do as you tell me."

I gave a nod, noticing the first bandit was almost among us. I waited a few moments before ordering, "Sain! attack from the left! Kent! From the right! Lyn! Attack if he still lives!" The two knights followed my orders, Sain completely missed and almost rode his horse into a tree, using the distraction from Sain, was able to slice across the bandit back, who roared in pain. "Lyn, now's your chance!" She sliced vertically across the bandit, which quickly killed him.

Two bandits were approaching shortly after, one from our left flank, one from our right flank. "Knights! Same style of attack from before on the one on the right! Lyn! Evade and attack the one on the left!" The knights performed the strategy seamlessly a second time, but this time Sain was the one who struck, I believe snapping the bandit's spine. Lyn dodged a clumsy swing by the other bandit, and struck back with a couple stabs, causing her opponent to collapse.

Two more bandits came, I gave the same command as before with the same results. One of the bandits mumbled something about being told that there should have been only a lone girl before falling over.

The four of us grouped among a few pale, almost sickly looking trees.

"Lukas," Lyn started, "who are these knights? Why are they with you?"

"I met sir Kent," I pointed toward the red knight, "when I was heading for that inn where I stayed before I...met you. He was looking for his companion, sir Sain," I pointed toward the green knight, "he was hoping to find him at that inn, but had no luck. After finding no evidence for my search of what happened when I was stranded," okay, a little lie, but I had no real leads, "I offered to help sir Kent find sir Sain. After some time, we stumbled on sir Sain doting on a young swordswoman with long, green hair," Sain flushed a little.

"I see, and why are two Caelin knights in Bulgar? Why call me milady?" I wonder...I heard rumors of Lord Hausen exiling his daughter after she married a plainsman.

"My liege lord wishes to welcome back in his family. He heard he had a granddaughter, by the name of Lyndis, bore by his sole child, Lady Madelyn, who eloped with a nomad some 19 years ago."

"Madelyn?" Lyn's eyes showed her shock.

"When she abandoned her family, liege lord despaired, eventually claiming he had no daughter."

Sain jumped in, "We had recently received a letter from Lady Madelyn, she wrote of her happy life with her husband and daughter. The marquess was ecstatic to learn he had a granddaughter. I remember the smile on his face when he announced that he'd suddenly become a grandfather."

Kent continued, "We learned that Lady Madelyn perished shortly after arriving at Bulgar. But we had also learned that her daughter yet lives, wandering the plains lonesome. I...I knew it when I saw you. You are the Lady Lyndis."

Lyn was clearly startled, "why...why do you think this, sir knight?"

Kent answered, "your resemblance to your departed mother is remarkable."

"What? Did you know my mother?" I'm unsure whether Lyn was in disbelief or simple confusion.

"I'm sorry to say I never met her directly, but I saw her portraits in Castle Caelin."

"To the rest of my tribe, I was always Lyn, but when I was with my parents...when it was just the three of us, I was Lyndis," tears were welling up in her eyes, "it's all so strange," the tears stopped, but she started whispering, "I was all alone in the world, and now I have a grandfather. Lyndis...I never thought I would hear that name again." Both knights and I stood to take in the moment. "Wait!" I think all three of us jumped, "That bandit! He called me Lyndis, too!"

A mixture of surprise and anger showed on Kent's face, "What How could he have-"

Sain cut him off, "He was a henchman of Lord Lundgren, wasn't he?"

"Lundgren? Who's that?" Lyn asked.

Finally knowing an answer, I replied, "the brother of marquess Caelin, he is your grand uncle."

Kent smiled at me, I guess he needed time to gather himself, "Everyone assumed lady Madelyn was gone forever. This made Lord Lundgren heir to the marquess's title.

Sain added, "to be blunt milady," I have a feeling being blunt is what Sain is best at, "your existence is an obstacle to your grand uncle's ambitions."

"That's...But...I have no interest in inheriting any title!" Lyn looked the same way as she did earlier when Sain was flirting with (not with...flirting on?) her.

"Unfortunately, your grand uncle is not the sort of man to believe that," I think my suspicion of Sain was correct, " I believe the attempts on your life will persist."

"What should I do?" Lyn asked.

"Accompany us to Caelin. Continuing on this way is dangerous," Kent answered. Coming from any non-Lycian, I would believe these two assassins.

Lyn gave his request a little thought, "I feel I have little choice. I will go with you."

"That settles that then, what of you, sir Lukas? A tactician would be most useful in the coming days," Kent stared at me awaiting my response. I weighed my options: Caelin will be on the way to Ostia, but it will likely take longer, be more dangerous, and possibly cause a civil war. A successions dispute in any of the Lycian cantons was perilous, especially considering the reports I heard on a rise in Bernese military forces spotted along the borders.

I knew my answer, "I will join your cause," I said simply.

"And that settles that, I suggest we move with some haste, in case more of Lundgren's find us talking here," urged Kent.

And so we set off westward, with Kent at the lead.

* * *

Author's note:

Sorry for I was stuck in a house without power for the past few weeks (rualness + coldness = powerless), in the meantime, here's the defacto chapter 1 that I sorta hastily wrote!

For those wondering, tactician/Lyn romance is not going to happen (unless I change my mind, because, you know, I'm the author, and I can play God and stuff). During my time away from electricity and warmth, I (slowly) handwrote a general storyboard for this to follow so I hope to be able to update with more regularity.

-S


End file.
